You'd need to work with an agent to identify pending short sales that are within 30-60 days of foreclosure sale and working with the listing agent to explain that it is an extra tool they can use to save their commission if the sale at the bank appears in trouble.

Lol.Anyways, seeing as you didn't mention your background or research, I thought I'd make sure you knew about the analyzing tools (under 'tools', what a surprise) as well as www.bigger pockets.com/starthere and ...com/learn and 'The Book on Flipping' (from ...com/store) as mentioned above.

I currently work for the Department of the Navy as a Realty Specialist providing service members with the necessary tools and information to help them locate rentals, as well as, guiding them in the process of purchasing a home, selling, and property management.  

We are in the same area and have success with a tool called fastemailflyers.Website is the dot com version of that.It does an e-mail blast of a flyer to all Realtors in the area.

Actually the Starting Point, which is a MLS Realtor tool that comes up with a statistical analysis (not to be confused with appraisal, but it gives a ball park figure far more accurate then Zillow) is $162,000.  

I will keep that idea in my tool box. 

I am a avid hunter and outdoorsman and they catered to the same clientele as me. 

Now, i know that there are maybe a handful of investors that are using the trademark as a free ride to name recognition but the vast majority of investors use "we buy houses" as a great marketing tool; as a sentence that has been used in real estate for tens of years before was even trademarked; and mainly because we really do buy houses.

@Dev Horn - What tools do you use to determine the equity ownership and absentee?

Large banks and in house ( RE agency lenders) lenders tend to cater to single family loans since the vast majority of people buying property are not buying for investment purposes.